The Orion Nebula is a vast stellar nursery located some 1,600
light years from our solar system. The nebula is a region
of intense star formation that is in the process of forming a
star cluster. When observed in visible light, most of these
young stars are hidden from view by the nebula itself. In this
near-infrared image, centered on the nebula's Trapezium
Cluster, many of these stars shine forth.

The most intense area of star formation (
shown here) is completely hidden in visible light images.
High-mass stars are forming in this area which is known as the
BN/KL region. The image clearly shows the spectacular
"explosive" outflow of gas emanating from this region.

This cloud of gas and dust is visible to the unaided eye as a
fuzzy patch that marks the middle star of the sword in the
constellation of Orion. In 1769 the French comet hunter,
Charles Messier, made it the forty second object, M 42, of his
now famous catalog.

The image was obtained using the 200-inch Hale Telescope's
Wide field Infrared Camera at Palomar Observatory by David
Thompson of the California Institute of Technology.
This color image is composed of three near-infrared images.
The red colors come from the light of molecular hydrogen at 2.12
microns, green from 2.270 microns and blue from 2.166 microns. i

The research was based on observations obtained at the Hale
Telescope, Palomar Observatory, as part of a collaborative
agreement between the California Institute of Technology,
its divisions Caltech Optical Observatories and the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (operated for NASA), and Cornell University.